Deal or no deal?
Monday, 25 January 2010
Laura Blazey
Category: The Future of HR
Deal or no deal? Is this the question that organisations need to be asking themselves?
As organisations continue in their quest for the HR holy grail -
a highly engaged workforce – one has to spare a thought for the employee. What’s in it for them?
The business benefits of an engaged workforce are clear – increased motivation, higher commitment, and ultimately increased productivity. Yet there are two players in the employment relationship, and you can’t help feeling one of them gets a slightly rawer deal.
In our second working paper from
The Future of HR research programme we explore the key factors that underpin and sustain a healthy employment relationship. Highlighted within this, is the fundamental role of reciprocity.
Within the employment relationship, there exists a penumbra of expectations, promises, and obligations from both sides and it is the reciprocation of these that sustains a healthy relationship. In difficult times, organisations ask
more and more of their employees, and employee acceptance is held up as a beacon of employee engagement. Yet, the growing disparity between employee needs and what the employer is offering is not sustainable in the long term and one has to wonder at what point the reciprocity is restored.
So looking at your own employment relationship, would you accept the deal?
